Pomodoro

Thank you feeling a bit better on the evidence part. We will ask when he sets up the interview if I'm allowed to attend.I think I'll go regardless as I miss him so much and I can atleast ride with him there to support him.

Hello, it seems that you have a lot of proof by meeting his family and traveling there more then one time. I would highly recommend to be with him at the interview. As the petitioner, I was able to be at the interview in Algeria an answer questions.  It was also helpful to mention that during the AOS interview because is not a usual thing to take that extra step. Note that not all the countries will let you in to join him during the interview though.  

Salam, I agree with Janet3. Make sure he asks for a copy of the DS-3025 form at the clinic in Algiers to do the AOS later. If they don't give it you him, you may email them later, but it will take a longer time. Good luck! 

The I 693 is the medical packet that the doctor completes at the exam. It will be in a sealed envelope and handed over to the consulate. Between the exam and sealed packet (which my fiancé had to pick up) it took 10 days.
In the medical packet is a translated immunization record....make sure your fiancé receives a copy of that record.....he will need that for AOS.

Good morning everybody! 
 
My wife and I had our AOS interview on Wednesday Morning at 8:15am in NY and we got approved in the afternoon following the interview! Now I have a notification from USCIS saying that the card is being produced!! 🎉🎉 
 
The interview was very nice, our officer was great and we had 4/5 questions about our parents, how we met etc. He asked for our original documents (birth certificates and marriage licence) and for proof or relationships (photos etc). He double checked he had the correct mailing address for the card as well and that was it... 20 minutes total, I’d say! 
 
They kept our original marriage licence though... our lawyer said we won’t get it back, which is too bad! 
 
Congratulations to everybody who has been approved or is moving forward and for those still waiting for the next step : lots of courage, it’s going to come soon!  💛

Hi guys!
 
I just got back from a 3-week overseas trip, and I entered in JFK. When we were at the border control, I went to the US citizen line with my husband. I showed my combo card to the officer, and he told my husband to pick up the luggage and told me to follow him. So I went to another room with him, and only waited there for like 15 minutes, the only question the senior officer asked me is if I had any food with me... It was a really fast and painless experience.
 
My interview is in 2 weeks, and on the letter, it says the spouse has to bring a birth certificate, my husband lost his original birth certificate, he only has a copy, can we go to the interview with the copy and a notarized letter explaining how he lost the original birth certificate?
 
Thank you! 
 
 

.

Hi @armenino15 , 
So, I traveled to Mexico with my AP and it went well. I had my Russian passport, combo card, and a marriage certificate in case officials would have had questions about discrepancies between the passport and the card (I changed my name after marriage and applied for AOS under my married name). Nobody was interested in the marriage certificate though. Upon returning from Mexico, while going through immigration, the officer said that I would need to be paroled and they placed me in a secondary control room. I spent there about 15 minutes. Nobody asked me any questions. The officer brought back my passport with the card and I was free to go. I hope, it helps.

My traveling experience was pretty much the same. The officer sends you into second inspection to parole you. 10 min later Passport & parole Stamp back without a word. I brought my NOA's, marriage cert & EAD/AP card. They just wanted the Combo Card and Passport. 
This was JFK Airport/NYC, I traveled by myself because it was a work trip. 

I had a new medical done since i thought mine expired already last February but then when i got to my interview the officer didn't ask for it. I figured since i paid for it and it cost so much i would just voluntarily give it even though she wasn't asking for it. I actually just didn't want to stare at a $520 document in my big plastic envelope that's why i submitted it. But anyways, the lady officer appreciated what i did and she explained to me that technically my medical is still valid since i submitted it within a year of my AOS interview (it's only been 8 months since we submitted our file). 
 
As for the Affidavit of Support, I didn't bring a new one since the one we submitted in the beginning is still valid. I did bring my husband's current w2, tax return, pay stubs, and letter of employment. The lady officer didn't ask for any but it's still better to have it with you just in case they ask.

Hi everyone,
 
Quick update as we went for green card interview yesterday in Mount Laurel, NJ. 
 
Arrived at 9.50am for appointment time of 10.15am, then waited and didn't get seen until almost 11.10am which was probably the most stressful part as we had both only booked a half day off work.
 
When we eventually got taken through, the lady interviewing us was really nice, asked us a couple of questions about how we met, and then had my wife ever been to the UK to visit me (I had visited USA something like 24 times during the relationship.) Asked for photos I gave her about 15 that I had printed of the wedding and honeymoon and a couple of things since which she kept in the file. Didn't get asked for anything financial, or leases or anything along those lines. She updated the record that I now had a job. Said it was a super straightforward case and that it would be approved and I would receive the 2 year Green Card in the post in the next few weeks and gave me the link to the information about removal of conditions at the end of that but said she cant see us having any problems since its clearly a bona fide marriage. Probably in there 20 mins maximum (which made up for the long wait!) 
 

 
 

Hi Everyone,
   My husband received his Green Card in the mail one week after our interview!!!.
 
We are both breathing a sigh of relief and we are happy to have an almost 2-year break from immigration.  Wishing you all a successful trip on the rest of your journeys.  

So far we have  2 rats, 3 guinea pigs, a bearded dragon, turtle, six parakeets, 12 gerbils (that were supposed to be all male....they were not....we ended up with 27 gerbils), 3 leopard geckos, and two corn snakes and a California King Snake. We had a bunny (which I absolutely Loved....she was mean to everyone but me). We have basically became the “no kill” shelter that everyone gives pets to. 
 
Are ferrets trainable? I would love to get a ferret.....and we have some very huge wall sized pet cages....do you think 2 would be better than one? Are they social animals?

First time to post here! Just had our interview today. It took us 3 mins and he said we're approved lol didn't ask for any documents or pictures which I was surprised because I brought a lot with me lol. NOA1 Aug 24, 2018 Fresno, California.

https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-2449/0-0-0-2798.html

If the applicant cant understand or speak english i think you really need to have an interpreter.
 
And all i know is that the interpreter must be fluent in both language. Not sure if it needs to be a professional translator.
 
Note: my English is not fluent but i understand and speak english ok. I didnt use interpreter.

The employer needs to see the EAD and you should know your SSN. Employers use form I-9 from USCIS to check your status.
 
Congrats! 

After you receive the GC (ie is when your immigration status has changed) you will update the SSN to remove the statement. 

You should update it at some point as K1visaHopeful mentioned. However, to be allowed to work the EAD or the greencard is enough. The employer uses the form I-9 'Employment Eligibility Verification' from USCIS to verify the eligibility. You can take a look at the form what documents can be used to verify.
 
Greetings from MA!

You SSN card should say something like "Allow to work with DHS authorization "... so you should show to your future empoyer both the SSN card and the EAD card
 
 

My wife just got the best Christmas present.  Her EAD was approved today!!! 
 
Not only can she get a job, but she can also renew her GA driver's license, which is about to expire in a few weeks.  

Hi all!  I had my AOS Interview at Tampa FL USCIS Office today.  Here is my review...
 
Met with a lovely immigration officer (Riki) who went through the I-485 and verified all the information that I had provided in the form.

Asked for my name and former names, my DOB, husbands name and his DOB, my parents names, current address, how long we have lived there for, date we were married and then we went through each of the immigration/criminal/terrorism questions which you have to answer verbally yes/no to. We were then invited to provide any supporting documentation to verify our relationship. We provided gym membership, health insurance, joint credit cards, car insurance, joint bank statements, birthday cards, 5 x photos from the wedding, copies of our wedding vows and facebook msgs and emails. She then invited us to tell her about us and our story which we didn't mind retelling as we love to tell our little 'fairytale'

She then informed us that she had everything she needed for her review and that once they did a 'refresh' on my background check, everything to her looked good to be approved. Told us they have 90 days to approve it but that she normally takes less than 30 days to go through her cases and issue decision. She then said that I will receive a letter advising us of their decision and then a week later will receive the card.

By the time we arrived home (approximately 2 hours after the appointment ended), I received a text notification that my case status had been updated for all three cases (AOS, EAD & AP). So I signed in to my USCIS account online and it advised 'New Card is Being Produced' for my AOS which means I have been APPROVED and it is on it's way! NOTE - Because my greencard was issued before my employment authorization/advance parole requests had been granted, they have now been cancelled by the immigration officer (she advised us that she would cancel them once she approved and issued my green card).

So all in all, a easy experience (even though I was nervous... something about an 'interview' that always makes me a little uneasy haha), questions were straight forward and after only a short wait, I now have my green card on it's way! Happy Days

Also just a quick mention regarding the I-693 medical. I had my overseas vaccination in Feb 2018 with all my vaccinations completed (except for the flu vaccine as it was not flu season in Australia). I provided a copy of my vaccination record (DS3025) with my I-485 submission and this was sufficient. I did NOT go to a civil doctor and re do any medical or vaccination part of the form for my interview as it was still within the 12 months of my overseas medical. The topic of the medical was not even brought up in the interview. Just wanted to add this in for others as this was something that I wasn't sure of and took a chance in not completing the additional medical just in case I didn't need it - which turns out I didn't!
 
If you have any further questions, let me know and good luck to the rest of you!!
 
Alli

Hey guys, my wife's interview for AoS was yesterday at the Raleigh-Durham, NC office. Interview didn't really take that long, but she passed. With the holidays the officer estimates she'll get her green card in about 3 weeks. But here's a little overview of our interview to help anyone still to have one. Be sure to have your appointment letter and government issued ID handy, as you'll need them frequently.
 
Arrived at 1:25 pm for our appointment at 1:45 pm. An officer checked over our IDs and appointment letter at the entrance. Had us go through an airport like metal detector and have a seat in the waiting area.
At around 1:30 pm they called for all the 1:45 appointments to line up. They checked the IDs and appointment letter again. Had the foreign spouses form a line in front of a check-in desk and the rest line up near the elevator. Once your foreign spouse checked in at the desk the two (or three for the many people there with lawyers) could use the elevator to go upstairs to another waiting room. On the second floor waiting room we waited until our ticket number was called, roughly around 2:10 pm. The interview officer had us stop in an office so that they could take her picture and check her fingerprints. From there we headed back to his office.
 
The interview officer had our petition on his desk and wanted to go over some of our paperwork. He stated that our I-693 was still good from her medical check in Bangkok, Thailand and that the I-864 that I had filled out was good to. He went over a few things in the I-485 form with her, confirming that her original name, married name, place of birth, & parents names were correct. Told her that her answers lined up correctly with what was on the form and had her sign a page in the back. From there he moved to asking us some questions. Starting with her.
 
Some questions asked:
Have you ever committed a crime while living in the US?
Have you ever committed a crime in the US without being caught?
Have you ever been arrested?
How many times have you been married?
Have you ever been ordered by a judge to leave the country?
Have you ever previously been denied entry into the US?
Have you ever previously falsely claimed to be a US Citizen? (the way he worded this question confused my wife a bit)
Have you ever voted for someone in government office in the US?
 
From there he moved to more personal questions.
How did the two of you meet?
How we communicated with each other before she was in the country?
When did I go to visit her and if I had visited more than once?
When was our wedding? Where was our wedding?
Asked if we have family in Florida? (our wedding was in Florida)
Asked if we had gone on any trips together since our wedding? and if we had any pictures?
Asked if we had any trouble getting here and if we rode together and who drove?
 
After the questions he said that everything seems to be good. That he'll finish going over the paperwork later that day and give the final approval. Told us some information about going forward, that her green card should arrive within the next 3 weeks. Informed us that going out this will be a conditional green card that is good for 2 years and that within 90 to 60 days of it expiring we would need to apply for the regular green card. In the time till then take photos, keep up with any airline tickets, receipts, if you have kids in the time their birth certificates. Stated that when we file for the normal green card it is best to have as much evidence as you can. They do not care how thick it is, just that more is better and be sure to still be married to the same person. 
 
Afterwards he asked if we had any questions. Then he took us back out to the front and we continued on our merry way.

Hey everyone! New update here.. Had my interview today in the morning here in San Diego.. for some reason we weren’t really nervous, I think with everything prepared there is no reason for that. 
 
we had the interview with a really nice lady.. first she just checked my documents, birth certificate, passport and I94, and just went through the I485, checking with me my full name, date and city of birth, my husband full name and date of birth too, just following the application.. went to all the yes/no questions about terrorism and all that.. simple stuff, really normal, she was being nice nothing super serious or anything, super chill.. she asked if I had any joint assets that I wanted to submit and I just gave her all the documents we had together.. she didn’t even look at them, just attached to all the papers of our case.. she then asked us how we meet and we told her our story with the dates and everything.. she was taking notes of everything we said. She asked about our wedding, where was it and if family attended.. I wanted to show her the pictures I had but she didn’t even look.. at the end she asked my husband about his work and happened that she already worked at the same area before so they were super talking about that.. she was really friendly, laughing and everything. 
She said we were good and that she would recommend us to approval.. took a while filling stuff in the computer and putting all the stamps on the papers.. we had to sign the paper that says when we need to renew the green card and she gave us some advice to keep all the documents we have together and future stuff cuz to renew the green card will need to show all that again and everything else we gonna have from the next two years.. 
 
So I was really happy everything was smooth.. no strees needed.. 
And my case status already changed for card being produced.. she said I’ll receive it within two weeks! 

Hi guys!
 
Just wanted to say hi, thats all... 
 
Shortly after our wedding, we lost our cat.. The younger one I brought from Japan.. I believe it was one of the most painful things I had to go through.But it did made us stronger as a couple...
 
well however yeah hope everyone's journey is going well. I have no updates so far. Love you guys